A wide variety of applications and software components are often installed with an operating system of a client device to extend the functionality of a web browser installed on the client device. For example, to prevent pop-up advertisements, a pop-up blocking application may be installed to monitor requests for opening new windows within the browser application. Further, virus protection applications are often installed to prevent communications received from the Internet or other network sources that may infect and potentially harm operation of the client device. Such communications may harm not only a local application, such as a web browser, but also other applications, such as the operating system of the host client device, and also other computers in communication with the client device.
Additional types of applications may also be added to extend the functionality of conventional web browsers. Each of these types of applications may need occasional updating of system files to maintain proper operation. For example, a virus protection application may need updates on virus definitions, and a media player plug-in to a web browser may need to be updated with new codecs corresponding to new media formats.
Plug-in applications allow features to be upgraded using modular components that can selectively replace existing components or add new features to an installed web browser application. In general operation, a web browser receives a request for a particular file and based upon the file extension (e.g., WAV, MP3, etc.), the browser passes it to a plug-in application that has been registered to handle that format with the operating system.
From an organizational perspective, however, an organization (such as that of a corporation) may have a policy on which applications are authorized to be installed on a client device owned by the organization and may also have policies on which network locations and web sites that are authorized to be accessed. Further, the organization may have a policy on the level of security (e.g., level of virus protection, level of encryption utilized, etc.) that is to be maintained on the client devices that access the organization's network and network resources. Therefore, maintenance of organizational polices across each client device is cumbersome.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.